pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Board and investor updates

The Wright brothers, 1903. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

Success. Four flights Thursday morning. Inform press. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Investor update

  • 4 flights
  • 59 seconds
  • Under $1,000
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1903 Investor update

The Wright brothers

Success. Four flights Thursday morning. Inform press.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→11 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

The Wright brothers' investor update, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. The Wright brothers deck, slide 1: December update: it flies. 01December update: it flies.
  2. The Wright brothers deck, slide 2: Four flights, no catapult, home for Christmas. 02Four flights, no catapult, home for Christmas.
  3. The Wright brothers deck, slide 3: Three asks this month, none of them money. 03Three asks this month, none of them money.
  4. The Wright brothers deck, slide 4: From a 3-second stall to almost a minute. 04From a 3-second stall to almost a minute.
  5. The Wright brothers deck, slide 5: Every flight beat the last. Flight four went seven times farther. 05Every flight beat the last. Flight four went seven times farther.
  6. The Wright brothers deck, slide 6: What worked: we threw out the tables and measured. 06What worked: we threw out the tables and measured.
  7. The Wright brothers deck, slide 7: The Flyer is a total loss. The data isn't. 07The Flyer is a total loss. The data isn't.
  8. The Wright brothers deck, slide 8: Three gliders and a Flyer for under $1,000. 08Three gliders and a Flyer for under $1,000.
  9. The Wright brothers deck, slide 9: Our best-funded competitor launched twice this quarter. Both times into the Potomac. 09Our best-funded competitor launched twice this quarter. Both times into the Potomac.
  10. The Wright brothers deck, slide 10: Next period: stay up long enough to turn around. 10Next period: stay up long enough to turn around.
  11. The Wright brothers deck, slide 11: Thank you. Inform press. 11Thank you. Inform press.

Then · 1903

How it really went

Read the real storythe story, via Wikipedia (Wright Flyer) and the Kitty Hawk telegram in the Library of Congress Wright papers
  1. 1900 to 1902: three gliders flown at Kitty Hawk, paid for by the bicycle shop
  2. Fall 1901: a homemade wind tunnel shows the textbook lift math is wrong
  3. Charlie Taylor builds a 12 hp engine in six weeks
  4. Oct. 7 and Dec. 8, 1903: Langley's Aerodrome falls into the Potomac, twice
  5. Dec. 14: Wilbur wins a coin toss and stalls after three seconds
  6. Dec. 17, 10:35 a.m.: Orville flies 120 feet in 12 seconds
  7. Flight four: Wilbur, 852 feet in 59 seconds
  8. A gust tumbles the Flyer; it never flies again
  9. The telegram home: "longest 57 seconds", "inform Press", signed "Orevelle"

Now · 2026 · 11 slides

What we changed

  • The telegram types itselfThe TL;DR is the real telegram, typed out letter by letter, then corrected in red pencil: 57 becomes 59 and "Orevelle" becomes Orville.
  • The flight log replaysAll four flights draw over the Kill Devil Hills sand in their real durations, sped up 30x. Click any flight to fly it again.
  • Burn, divided by flightsUnder $1,000 against Langley's $70,000 of mostly public money. Flip to "per successful flight" and Langley's bar becomes a division by zero.
  • Lowlights with status pillsThe wreck, John Daniels tumbling with it, the three-second stall: written as a candid ledger, the way GitLab's update template demands.

Steal the structure

Build your investor update like The Wright brothers did.

  1. 01 Cover Who it is from, who it is to, and the month in one line.
  2. 02 TL;DR The whole update in the length of a telegram: outcome, headline number, ask, next date.
  3. 03 Asks Two or three specific requests, each with an owner and a due date. Put them near the top.
  4. 04 Key metrics One hero number with its time frame, then the same 4 to 6 KPIs as every month, each against plan or last period.
  5. 05 Proof chart The trend behind the hero number, so investors see the slope, not just the point.
  6. 06 Highlights Two or three wins, each with evidence, including the work that made the result possible.
  7. 07 Lowlights The misses, stated plainly, with a status for each. Never skip this section.
  8. 08 Burn and runway What you spent, where the money came from, and how long it lasts. Benchmark it.
  9. 09 Competition Your position against the best-funded rival, row by row, with dates.
  10. 10 What's next Next period's priorities with a target for each; they open next month's update.
  11. 11 Thanks Name the people who helped, then restate the one action you need.

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